Anything but Terrified
by Mirror and Darkling
Summary: She can't allow herself to remember all the nice things when she sees his name printed in the Daily Prophet. He's murdered people, she tells herself. He's not who you remember.


Anything but Terrified

**Author's Note: **Ugh, I told myself I would never write another story featuring an OC. This was completely unexpected, but not unwelcomed.

**Disclaimer: **I just own Laine. Harry Potter isn't mine…

**Warning**: Nothing horrible, I promise.

xxx

**Anything but Terrified**

She'd met him when she was a second year. He was three years older and charmingly handsome and rebellious. She never understood why the Slytherins seemed to hate him, or why some of the Gryffindors had been wary of him at first. She was muggle-born and a Ravenclaw, and very much out of the loop. She remembered he never seemed to study and still managed to get good greats, excellent grades. It had always irked her. Their first meeting was not the greatest, perhaps, but she remembered walking away with a satisfied grin on her face, and he may have been smiling, too. He'd been so angry because a prank had failed, and okay, her best friend had had a part in its failure, but that was no reason to spit his pants in the middle of the Great Hall.

Laine didn't like when anybody messed with her friends. Sirius Black didn't stand a chance.

Their friendship had been special at best. Being in different years made it harder for them to hang out, and Laine had a love affair with the library, or so Sirius exclaimed one evening when he caught her there on Valentine's Day. After bothering her for a while, he'd disappeared to join his friends in his common room, and Laine was forced to return to her own common room without dinner, having spent the entire time talking with Sirius. She'd found a bar of Honeydukes' chocolate waiting for her at one of table. They found time to chat between classes, or at dinner before Sirius was dragged by an over eager James Potter. Laine found herself staring after him. Theirs was a relationship filled with constant bickering and playful banter, talks about life and how things were (though Laine had a feeling he was always distracted during such talks; banter was much more exciting for one such as Sirius Black). He explained things her muggle-born mind just couldn't comprehend about magic and sometimes ranted about his family while she secretly read her book, nodding her head.

He graduated before her, of course. Occasionally she'd receive letters and invitations to visit. Laine never paid much attention to the invitations. He was just being polite, she told herself, and she occupied herself with the cute third year from Gryffindor. The summer after her fifth year was spent worrying how many O. she would receive, because honestly she wasn't sure she had passed Potions at all, and she needed a decent mark if she ever wanted to be a Healer. Laine was about ready to pull her hair out when her friends had dragged her out for a night on the town (without her parents knowledge, of course), and she ended up looking after three very drunk, very excitable friends. An eighteen year old Sirius Black had been kind enough to lend her a hand, after arriving out of what seemed like nowhere. It was unexpected, but Sirius liked the unexpected. He had smiled and escorted her friends home and followed her all the way back to her own house just to make sure she was safe. He never said it in so many words, but Laine knew by just looking at him. She apologized for never visiting. Sirius only laughed and told her she'd see him next summer. Laine didn't know what he meant.

The very next summer, Laine received an invitation to James and Lily's wedding. Surprised, Laine had accepted. She had congratulated the bride and groom, threw a little smile in Remus' direction, and tried to sneak out through the back. She had ended up on Sirius' arm as he escorted her to the reception. Despite her protests, he had drawn her out to the dance floor. Laine was never much for dancing, but she did it for him.

It had rained that night. Laine had cursed her luck, and she had turned to see Sirius in the middle of a conversation with his mates, and Laine figured she had overstayed her welcome and decided to wait outside for a cab.

She remembered he smelled like cologne and spice and – strangely enough – wet dog. He had kissed her in the middle of her trying to explain that no, she needed to get home before her parents started to worry, and no, she was not riding home on the back of his motorcycle. Even when she got home, she could still smell him. After that, everything changed, no matter how cliché that might seem. He was reckless and wild and everything that should have made her run. Laine never did.

It's the little things, Laine believes, that make her love him even more. The way he talked to her family that first visit, the way he told her he loved her. The way he kissed her forehead and the way he interrupted her with kisses because he realized she tended to forget what she was talking about when he did. They fought over the little things too, like what he did when he was supposed to meet her for dinner during Christmas break, and that no, she wasn't too young – she was seventeen dammit – and she deserved to know why he was in St. Mungo's.

She wasn't quite sure how things ended the way they did…

Laine was eighteen, Sirius nearly twenty-one, when everything ended. He had patted her hand, congratulated her on getting a job, and walked away without looking back. Things had been stressful before then, but Laine had never expected him to leave. He never told her anything. There had been fights, but they had always managed to make up and forget them. Laine later figures their break-up was a good thing and that things happen for a reason, because when she snatches the paper from her father's hand a couple of months later when she spots Sirius' name, the only thing she feels is terrified. Never anything else…

Years later, when Laine is thirty and a successful and qualified healer at St. Mungo's, and she sees the name Sirius Black printed in the headlines of the _Daily Prophet_, she nearly has a heart attack. Years later, long after his death and his name cleared, Laine allows herself to finally feel anything but terrified.

xxx

**Author's Note:** Erm. Review? If there are any mistakes, please kindly count them out to me. Thank you!


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